My name is Courtney R. Harris

and I help companies increase their sales.

I do this by developing a powerful marketing strategy designed to make your product stand out from the competition, capture your customer’s attention, and move them to take action.

My approach is very simple: I think from your customer's point of view. I put myself in their shoes and make sure that everything we do caters to their best interest. Everything. Experience has taught me that the more you cater to them, the better your results will be. If done effectively, the customer will actually be excited at the idea of purchasing your product and all you have to do is make sure your product delivers.

My goal is also very simple: results. At the end of the day, that’s what matters most. I pride myself on developing a gameplan that will produce the best results possible and executing on that gameplan - monitoring it every step along the way.

10:3:1 Writing Studio is a creative writing and marketing firm that specializes in writing,
planning, and executing campaigns to boost a brand’s sales performance. They believe that the
most important part of any marketing campaign is the written message you deliver. "Not just
what you say. But how you say it." To promote that concept, they hired Courtney R. Harris as
their Sr. Copywriter & Creative Director.

They wanted people to know that they offer excellent writing services. And what better way to
demonstrate that than to actually write something. But it had to be attention grabbing and
memorable. What better way to be attention grabbing and memorable than to discuss something
highly controversial. And one month before the 2016 Presidential election, what was the most
controversial topic in America?

Donald Trump.

As with any controversial topic, some loved the article’s position. Some hated it. But everyone
consumed the article, shared it, passionately commented on it, remembered it, and most
importantly - admired the way it was written.

The blog article was posted to social media on 10/09/16. Within 2 days, the article had been
viewed over 1,000 times and "shared" 250 times. Within a week the article had been viewed over
3,000 times, "shared" 600 times and had emerged as a “trending topic.”. And by the time election
day had arrived, the article had been viewed over 7,000 times, "shared" over 2,800 times and
commented on over 500 times.

If you own a home security system, you appreciate how good it feels to know that your home is fully protected while you are away or perhaps while you are sleep. However, you also appreciate how embarrassing it can be to have your alarm go off by accident. It disturbs neighbors and can even dispatch the police unnecessarily.

The problem is equally frustrating for the person who installs and monitors the system — since they are the ones who stand to lose money if you are not happy. The most common cause for a false alarm is typically a small animal/pet that crosses the path of the motion sensor. Thus alarm dealers/installers are always seeking a motion sensor that understands how to ignore small animals

Through a carefully developed branding campaign, we positioned the KX-08 motion sensor as the ultimate answer to this problem. Our goal was to make the motion sensor synonymous with pets and get the concept to stick in the minds of these alarm dealers/installers. The 'dogs on the head' image became an iconic one that was ultimately voted "most recognizable campaign" by Security Sales & Integration Magazine. The campaign extended across print, online, and numerous tradeshow exhibits.

"Everyone remembers the guy with the dogs on his head. He practically became our mascot"

Panda Software made a shocking discovery: their team of sales representatives would much rather spend their time closing sales than searching for them. And not only did they prefer it, they were much better at it.

So the best way to utilize their talents was to "feed" them warm leads. Leads that had already been picked, screened, pitched, and qualified. Thus, a direct marketing effort was organized to generate an abundance of leads to satisfy the sales team’s healthy appetite.

As a leading provider of antivirus software, spyware detection, and cybercrime prevention technology, Panda was confident that if a prospect were to merely try the product, they would be very likely to purchase it. Using an attractive incentive (a generous free trial) as the focus for our approach, we launched an integrated lead generation campaign (phone, email, and web) to get IT professionals to—well—try the product. To further help our chances, we targeted individuals who had filled out a survey indicating that they were indeed shopping around for this exact type of product and would be likely to make a purchase in the next 30 days!

What started off as a one time effort, quickly evolved into a regular practice. If repetition is considered a form of flattery, then it's safe to say that Panda Software (and their sales team) could not stop offering compliments!

It’s one thing to have an idea for a brand new product. It’s another thing to explain the idea to the masses and convince them why they must have it. The goal (and challenge) of a commercial is to accomplish this in a very short window of time.

We decided to tell a story. One that the everyday person could probably relate to. We felt it gave us our best chance at getting the viewer to actually stick around for the whole presentation and appreciate how the product works and how it could help them.

And because the topic is a rather difficult one, we decided to use animated characters rather than real life people. It’s a little easier to watch. And less expensive to produce!

I had the pleasure of writing the script, directing the story, overseeing the creative direction, and managing the production.

Every medium speaks to the customer in a different way. And though the end goal is always to sell something, each marketing channel has a different path to get there. An advertisement needs to be remembered. An email needs to be opened and responded to. An article needs to grab attention and inform. A website needs to be interacted with. A landing page needs to be clicked on. Each platform has it’s own "voice" with it’s own desired call to action.

In order to write effective copy, it is critical to understand how the message will be received and what that call to action must be. For Legally Concealed, I served as the "voice" of the organization – writing all of the company’s email solicitations, website landing pages, and sales video scripts.

Selling weapons training requires tapping into one's fear of not being prepared in case something dangerous happens. So my job was to scare the hell out of you every chance I could.

"Courtney not only produced excellent copy that helped drive sales activity, he also offered well thought out strategic guidance. We got a marketing strategist and seasoned copywriter all in one!"

As we have all learned on numerous occasions, what we say is just as important as how we say it. Whether demonstrated through a favorite television show that we can't miss, a movie that we can't get enough of, or even a commercial that we stop to watch/hear every time it airs, the "script" that is used is the guiding force behind whether the creative message makes a true impact on us or not.

So in developing a sales presentation for one of Hemocue's products, it was critical that the finished piece truly 'spoke' to the recipient in a manner that would not only resonate with them, but would carefully walk them through all of the product's unique selling points. The message had to convince the prospect that we not only understood their job responsibilities, but assure them that we had the perfect solution to help make things that much easier for them.

And to ensure that the script was delivered in the most impactful way, we hired the best voice-over talent that we could find.

Optex was planning to release a new product. So the goal was to generate curiosity and build as much anticipation in the marketplace as possible. We wanted a critical mass of buyers just itching to get their hands on it as soon as it was available for purchase.

Similar to a theatrical trailer used to promote an upcoming movie, we used a "teaser" concept to promote the idea that something big was coming. We ran advertisements online and offline — using the 'question mark' as a centerpiece for tradeshow displays and various marketing communications collateral. And since silence is the most powerful way to heighten curiosity, everyone in the company was sworn to secrecy should anyone decide to call and inquire about what was "up our sleeve." We simply refused to give out any additional information on what was coming. Not even to existing customers. If anyone wanted to find out more about the product, they would simply have to stop by our booth at the upcoming tradeshow.

It worked like a charm! So well in fact, the MX series motion detector benefited from one of the most successful debuts in the company's tenured history.

"This is Nike type advertising. Now we just need the product to live up to this hype we've created"

Entering into a new market is always tough. No one knows who you are. Even worse, it’s harder to stand out from the competition and give the customer a legitimate reason to try you over someone else that they’re more familiar with. And in some cases, may already have a long standing relationship with.

We were selling LED lights. And admittedly there’s nothing terribly sexy about that. And quite frankly, our LED lights didn’t really differ much in comparison to our competitors’. So we couldn’t really focus on selling features. We had to focus on selling benefits. And the biggest benefit to offer was the amount of money they would save by making the switch.

But there was also one more element that would make our “pitch” most effective. We only focused on going after those targets who actually had a current light “problem.” When someone has a problem and it’s brought to their attention, they are much more open to what you have to say. And how to solve it. And of course, we were confident that we had a solution they needed to hear about.

The outcome? 8 out of 10 cold calls that were made resulted in either a request for information, a meeting, proposal, or – in many cases – all of the above. And within 9 months we had accumulated over $5 million in pending sales orders.

Not bad for a cold call. Especially considering that they had never heard of us before.

"As a result of Courtney's efforts, within 4 months we were able to land our first customer. And within 9 months, we had accumulated well over $9 million of pending sales orders. Courtney not only led the way in "getting our foot in the door with new customers. He assisted the sales team in securing each opportunity that came along. He was never short on good ideas to maximize every opportunity."

All too often we as businesses focus our energy on acquiring new customers without taking the time to really understand the ones we already have. In fact, often times the best way to attract new customers, is to first pinpoint why some of your existing ones chose you to begin with. If implemented correctly, conducting a little research will reveal the competitive advantages to plan around as well as the disadvantages that need to be worked on.

The key in surveying customers is to understand that no answer they provide is a bad one. Every response contains valuable information that will tell you which of your efforts is working well and which ones aren't. With every response you gain insight. And when you add all of this insight together — you see trends. From these trends, you can form conclusions. Conclusions that you might not have been able to form on your own.

Give them the opportunity and your customer might turn out to be the best marketing consultant you could ever want to hire.

"To better understand our competitive advantages and construct an effective sales strategy—Courtney gathered useful information and offered valuable suggestions on how to best service our existing clientele, as well as how to improve our service offerings in the future."

The Brandview Ballroom is a spacious 13,000 square foot banquet hall located in the Glendale section of Los Angeles. The venue comfortably houses 550 guests and is typically reserved for special occasions including large private parties, annual company events, and wedding receptions. Our biggest marketing tool was word of mouth. Anyone who attends an event at our venue would hopefully remember the experience, share it with others, and consider reserving it themselves in the future.

A college sorority had reserved the venue for an upcoming event – a "red dress banquet." In less than 2 weeks, we were going to have over 500 college students attending. How can we take advantage of these 500 students, make the experience memorable and turn them into walking billboards for the venue? And get them to add us on social media?

Since this event was a "red dress banquet" every woman who attended would be wearing a red dress. We told the event organizers to promote a "red dress contest." Each woman who arrives wearing a red dress would be greeted on a "red carpet" (in true Hollywood fashion) escorted to a VIP area, and have her picture professionally taken in front of a Hollywood styled banner (with our logo in the background). She then posts that picture to our facebook page and asks her friends to "vote" for her dress. Whichever dress gets the most votes, wins a brand new iPad.

Women love getting confirmation on how they look. Millennials love social media. And sororities love to be popular. It was the perfect storm.

On average our facebook page would receive about 1.5 likes per day and around 42 page views per day. During the 6 days we ran this contest our “likes” jumped 3,755% and our page views jumped 12,150%. No those are not typos. In 6 days, our Facebook account activity surpassed numbers for the entire year prior.

And our only costs were an iPad, a banner, and a graphic for the easel.

In today's competitive business climate, the concept of having a website is nothing new or terribly exciting. In fact, a website has become such an everyday piece of your marketing program, your business is not considered legitimate without one. As with any marketing piece, "branding" should always be taken into account in every aspect of the presentation. The colors you choose. The images you display. The verbiage you use. Even the layout you select.

For Mike Bahniuk, we wanted simple. But most importantly we wanted to communicate "sports" and "photography".

We hired Courtney R. Harris and his web design team to give my website a much needed facelift and improved functionality. The new site allows me the ability to manage much of the content myself whenever I need and is now a much better selling tool for my business.

M. Bahnkiuk
PowerPlay Photography

How I work

We begin with a simple discussion. During which I get to understand your overall business, it's strengths, it's weaknesses (yes, we all have them), it’s competitive advantages, your product offering, your past marketing efforts, your current marketing efforts, your budget, and most importantly — what you're trying to accomplish. Specifically. No question is off limits and no answer is a bad one. The more you talk, the more I listen.

Then, my creative side kicks in. Having worked with a wide range of companies on various marketing assignments, I have developed a keen eye for what will produce the best results with your allocated budget. Using the information gathered from our discussions, combined with years of experience, I will propose a tailored gameplan designed to produce the absolute best results possible. And as soon as you give the green light, me and my team get to work.

“So I find myself at the grocery store the other day. And though this is not one of my favorite places to be, I happen to see the infamous “free sample lady”. I don’t know about you, but I’m always … Read more…